Reading Assessments

• Assessing Reading Difficulties and Disabilities • Reading Skills • Tests That Measure Reading • Answers to Questions About Reading Tests • Assessing Reading: Special Factors

In this chapter, you will learn about reading difficulties and disabilities, such as dyslexia, and how reading is assessed. You will learn about reading skills, tests that are used to measure reading skills, and answers to frequently asked questions about reading tests. Reading is the gateway skill to learning. In third grade, the focus of your child’s education changes from learning to read to reading to learn. Your child will use reading skills to learn history, science, geography, literature, math, and other subjects in the curriculum. All About Tests and Assessments

If your child has not learned to read by the Assessing Reading Difficulties end of third grade, he will be in trouble. He and Disabilities will not be able to learn independently from A comprehensive reading assessment should books. He will not understand what the measure your child’s decoding and receptive teachers write on the board. He will not be language skills. able to write reports and essays. He will fall further behind his classmates. If he is like The decoding part of the evaluation should most children with reading problems, he include tests of: will not catch up unless he receives a well- • Alphabet designed, research-based intervention. • Word identification (word recognition) There are many reasons why children do not read fluently by third grade. If you suspect • Word attack (phonics) that your child has reading difficulties or a • Spelling reading disability, get an evaluation now. Do not delay. A reading assessment is the first • Fluency (rate and accuracy) step in identifying your child’s problems and • Passage comprehension developing solutions so he can improve his The receptive language portion should reading. include tests that measure listening comprehension and vocabulary. Listening comprehension tests measure how well your child understands language. These tests can Children Who Are Poor Readers in alert you to receptive language problems that 3rd Grade Do Not Catch Up affect reading comprehension. “75% of children who were poor Weaknesses in phonological processing skills readers in the 3rd grade remained are the leading cause of reading disabilities. poor readers in the 9th grade and A comprehensive reading assessment should could not read well when they include tests that measure: became adults.” • Phonological/phonemic awareness – Joseph Torgeson in Catch Them Before They Fall • Phonological memory www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/ • Rapid naming springsummer1998/torgesen.pdf If your child has a history of speech and language problems or you suspect that he has

2 Chapter 6. Reading Assessments a language problem, a comprehensive reading 4. Listening capacity or potential level: assessment should include a speech and The child understands material that is language assessment.1 read to him.

Your child’s hearing and vision should be An informal reading inventory may not be checked. It is important to rule out problems used to determine if a child is eligible for with visual acuity. Most reading difficulties special education or in other high-stakes are not caused by vision problems and cannot education decisions. be corrected by vision-related therapies. The school wants to do a screening The school wants to do an informal test of my child’s reading. What is a reading assessment on my child. What screening test? is an informal reading assessment? A screening test is a brief assessment that An informal reading assessment may be a is intended to identify children who are at teacher-made test or an informal reading risk for educational or learning problems. inventory (IRI). It can also be the end of the Screening tests are limited and may not unit test from the reading program that is identify a child’s problems that need to be used with all the students. evaluated. Screening tests should never be used in place of a comprehensive evaluation.2 Teacher-made tests are based on the curriculum and prepared by teachers. Who can evaluate my child’s Teachers use scores to measure their students’ reading skills? progress. Reading specialists, learning disability Informal reading inventories include specialists, special educators, speech and graded word lists, graded passages, and language pathologists, clinical psychologists, comprehension questions for the passages. and school psychologists evaluate reading Informal reading inventories usually classify skills. four levels of reading skill: Can you test a child for dyslexia? 1. Independent level: The child reads without assistance. Yes. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that affects language. 2. Instructional level: The child finds the material challenging, not too hard or A child with dyslexia will have difficulty too easy. reading accurately and fluently. Spelling will be poor. Most children with dyslexia have 3. Frustration level: The child is weaknesses in phonological processing. 3 frustrated when trying to understand Many also have weaknesses in rapid naming. what he reads.

3 All About Tests and Assessments Most standardized, norm-referenced tests that are used to test for learning disabilities sounds. The ability to perceive and are also used to evaluate children for dyslexia. manipulate individual sounds is most important. Did You Know? Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN): Dyslexia is listed as a specific Child names colors, objects, letters, or learning disability in IDEA. numbers in series. Letter naming is the Dyslexia is listed as a most important skill for reading. specific learning disability in the Individuals with Letter &Word Identification (L/W ID): Disabilities Education Act and Child recognizes regular and irregular implementing regulations. words in a list. Younger children and See the definition of “specific poor readers recognize letters. learning disability” in the Word Attack (WA): Child recognizes federal law and special nonsense words. Nonsense words are education regulations.4 made-up words that assess skill with phonics.

Reading Skills Reading Vocabulary (RV): Child provides antonyms, synonyms, or No test measures all reading skills. Different complete analogies in response to tests measure different skills. Reading skills written words. include: Reading Comprehension (RC): Child Letters (LTRS): Child identifies letters answers open-ended or multiple-choice names and sounds, or points to letters in questions, points to pictures, or fills in response to letter names or sounds. missing words. Different methods for Phonological Awareness (PA): assessing comprehension may result in Phonemic awareness is an umbrella term different scores, depending on the child’s that refers to the awareness of individual profile. sounds in words. It includes skills at the Fluency and Automaticity (FL/AU): word, syllable, and individual sound Child reads passages aloud while level. This skill serves as the foundation being timed. Tests of automaticity and for learning to read. accuracy require the child to read real In tests of phonological awareness the words and/or nonsense words while child rhymes words, segments sounds being timed. in words, blends sounds, and identifies

4 Chapter 6. Reading Assessments

Listening Comprehension (LC): The KTEA-II is under revision. You will find Child answers questions based on additional information and updates at www. passages that are read to him. LC can pearsonassessments.com. provide important information about The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, comprehension difficulties. Third Edition (WIAT-III) measures the reading skills checked in Table 6-1. The Tests That Measure Reading WIAT-III oral language subtest results should Your child’s reading should be assessed by be interpreted with caution. They are not a tests that measure specific skills. Achievement substitute for a comprehensive evaluation of tests can assess multiple subjects or a single receptive and expressive language skills. subject. Frequently used multiple-subject The WIAT-III has an unusual way of scoring achievement tests used to assess reading skills the reading comprehension test for children include: who read significantly below grade level. If • Kaufman Test of Educational your child is a poor reader but his score on Achievement, Second Edition (KTEA-II) the WIAT-III reading comprehension test is high, ask the evaluator whether he was • Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, dropped back to below grade-level passages. Third Edition (WIAT-III) Sometimes children earn high scores because • Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of they are not actually reading grade-level text. Achievement (WJ III ACH) The WIAT-III may be scored by computer or The Kaufman Test of Educational by hand. Achievement, Second Edition (KTEA- Many evaluators use the WIAT-III together II) provides valuable information about with the Wechsler tests of intelligence so they phonological awareness, oral fluency, and can compare ability and achievement. See reading fluency. The oral language subtests Chapter 4 for information about the Wechsler are not a substitute for a speech and language and other tests of intelligence. Additional evaluation. Check Table 6-1 for the reading information about the Wechsler tests is skills measured by the KTEA-II. available at www.psychcorp.come In addition to composite and subtest scores, The Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of the KTEA-II provides an error analysis Achievement (WJ III ACH) include a standard that is useful in planning direct, explicit battery and an extended battery. See Table 6-1 systematic instruction. Composite scores for the skills measured by these batteries. The should be viewed with caution when there WJ III includes other supplemental subtests. are large differences between subtest scores. The WJ III is scored by computer and cannot You should always be provided with subtest be scored by hand. Because scoring tables are scores. 5 All About Tests and Assessments not provided, it is difficult for an evaluator to Tests That Measure Phonological verify the accuracy of scores obtained. If you Processing have questions about the accuracy of your The Comprehensive Test of Phonological child’s scores, ask the evaluator to double Processing, Second Edition (CTOPP2) is the check the raw scores on the protocol and as gold standard for phonological processing. typed into the scoring program. The CTOPP2 measures the skills that make The WJ III subtests are organized into reading and spelling possible. Assessing these clusters. If there are significant differences skills makes it possible to understand why a between your child’s subtest scores, you child has difficulty reading and how to design should view the cluster scores with caution. his instruction. Because the subtests are short, they may not The CTOPP2 measures three areas of provide sufficient information about what phonological processing: your child knows and is ready to learn. Phonological memory is where speech The WJ III written expression subtests should sounds are held before they are processed. It always be supplemented by writing tests is important for learning decoding, spelling, that require longer writing samples. The and vocabulary. Passage Comprehension subtest should be supplemented by reading tests that use longer Phonological awareness refers to the awareness passages. of speech sounds. It is the prerequisite skill for learning phonics. A child who has a weakness The WJ III is under revision. Updates and in phonological awareness is often described as more information is available at www. having dyslexia. riversidepublishing.com. Rapid naming is the ability to name objects, Single-subject reading tests often provide colors, letters, and numbers aloud quickly more information about your child’s while being timed. This is important for strengths and weaknesses. Commonly used reading with fluency. single-subject reading tests include: • Comprehensive Test of Phonological Tests That Measure Reading Processing, Second Edition (CTOPP2) Fluency and Comprehension • Test of Word Reading Efficiency, Second Fluency (rate and accuracy) is essential for Edition (TOWRE-2) reading comprehension. Children who read slowly take longer to complete assignments • Gray Oral Reading Tests, Fifth Edition and they remember less. (GORT-5) The Test of Word Reading Efficiency, Second • Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency Edition (TOWRE-2) measures the child’s (TOSWRF) ability to recognize real and nonsense 6 Chapter 6. Reading Assessments words in a list format with accuracy and teacher says he will read when he is automaticity. The TOWRE-2 can help ready. Do reading test scores improve differentiate between different types of when a child matures? reading deficits and can be used to measure You are right to be concerned. If your son’s progress. reading subtest scores are below average The Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency in first grade, he has a problem. Reading (TOSWRF) measures reading fluency. The problems are not caused by immaturity and child reads words printed without spaces and cannot be outgrown. The notion that children makes slash marks between the words while who are late bloomers in reading will catch up being timed. The TOSWRF is not designed to when they get older is a myth.5 measure reading comprehension. This test is You need to get a comprehensive reading not appropriate for a child who has difficulty assessment. Tests that measure your child’s controlling his pencil. phonological processing, phonics skills, The Gray Oral Reading Tests, Fifth Edition and spelling will clarify why your child is (GORT-5), measure reading fluency and having difficulty and what skills need to be comprehension. The child answers questions addressed. based on passages that he reads aloud. The GORT-5 measures oral reading rate, accuracy, On the Woodcock-Johnson III, my fluency, and comprehension. It also provides child scored much higher on the an Oral Reading Index, a combined measure Letter & Word Identification subtest of fluency and comprehension. than on the Word Attack subtest. What do these scores mean? As you review the skills measured by reading Good question! The difference in these tests in Table 6-1, you will see that no reading subtest scores is important. The Letter & test measures all reading skills. To understand Word Identification subtest measures your what your child’s test scores mean, you need child’s ability to read regular and irregular to know what skills the test measured. A test words. The Word Attack subtest measures that measures many skills may not be better her ability to apply the rules of phonics to than a test that measures fewer skills well. unfamiliar words (nonsense words). Answers to Questions About The differences in her subtest scores may Reading Tests mean that she learned to read by sight and did not learn the rules of phonics. She does not My first-grader’s scores on the know how to break large words into syllables reading subtests of the Woodcock- to sound them out. Johnson III Tests of Achievement were She is likely to have trouble when she reaches below average. I am concerned but his third or fourth grade. Because she does not 7 All About Tests and Assessments

Table 6-1. Reading Tests and the Skills They Measure

LTRS RAN L/W FL/ Test PA ID WA RV RC AU LC Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, √ √ Second Edition (CTOPP2)** Gray Diagnostic Reading Tests, Age 8 & Second Edition (GDRT-2) √ √ √ √ above √ Gray Oral Reading Tests, Fifth Edition (GORT-5) √ √ Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, Second Edition √ √ √ √ MP & √ √ (KTEA-II) OE Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Test, Third √ Edition (LAC-3) Phonological Awareness Test, Second Edition (PAT2) √ √ √ Test of Phonological Awareness, Second √ √ Edition:Plus (TOPA-2+) Test of Reading Comprehension, Fourth Edition √ MC √ (TORC-4) Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency, Second √ Edition (TOSCRF-2) Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency, Second Edition √ (TOSWRF-2) Test of Word Reading Efficiency, Second Edition √ (TOWRE2) Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Third Edition √ √ OE √ √ (WIAT-III) Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III ACH) √ √ √ √ √ √ FB √ √ Woodcock Reading Mastery Test, Third Edition (WRMT-3)** √ √ √ √ √ FB √ √ Word Identification and Spelling Test (WIST) √ √

Key: Letters (LTRS), Phonological Awareness (PA), Rapid Automatic Naming (RAN), Letter Word ID (L/W ID), Word Attack (WA), Reading Vocabulary (RV), Reading Comprehension (RC), Fluency and Automaticity (FL/AU), Listening Comprehension (LC). Formats: OE = Open Ended. FB=Fill in blank MC= Multiple Choice ** May give elevated scores 8 Chapter 6. Reading Assessments know the rules of phonics, she will not have below average. I’m confused. Her the tools she needs to recognize new words. reading skills are not average. How No research supports using sight word can she earn an average score? instruction when teaching a child to read.6 Many young children use their thinking You want your child to be an independent skills to answer questions on tests when reader. Before she can be an independent they cannot read the material. For example, reader, she must learn how letters represent when asked this question, “When did Johnny the sounds of the English language. eat breakfast?” most children answer the question correctly without reading the text. My child is in second grade but he Your child’s ability to use thinking skills hasn’t learned to read. His score on cannot compensate for her poor word the Passage Comprehension subtest recognition skills. She cannot guess her way of the Woodcock-Johnson III was in through a biology or history text. the average range. How can he get an average score when he can’t read? My son is in the first grade. He Some subtests, including the Passage struggles to read. How can his Comprehension subtest, include questions scores on the Standardized Reading that use pictures as clues. Young children Inventory, Second Edition be in the often use the pictures to guess the correct average range? answers and boost their scores. Good readers Many reading tests do not accurately measure do not use pictures and they do not have to a first-grader’s skills. A reading test may guess. provide scores that overestimate the child’s Ask your son’s evaluator to test his skills in true ability. word identification, word attack (nonsense If you think a test did not accurately measure words), and reading fluency. Ask the your child’s skills, ask the evaluator if the test evaluator to use a reading comprehension test had enough items to measure the skills of that does not provide pictures. Recognizing your young child - this is called the test floor. pictures is not a valid measure of reading Ask the evaluator if your child would benefit comprehension. by more in-depth diagnostic testing.

My daughter reads slowly and Progress monitoring tools designed to inaccurately. On the Gray Oral measure the performance of young children Reading Tests, Fifth Edition (GORT- are useful in measuring the reading skills of 5), her Comprehension score was young children. For more information about average, but her fluency was well progress monitoring, see Chapter 10 about

9 All About Tests and Assessments Evaluations of Specific Learning Disabilities phonemic awareness and/or rapid naming so and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity these skills need to be assessed. Disorders (ADHD). Consult with your evaluator about your child’s oral language skills and whether he My child has an IQ of 75 (5th needs additional testing in this area. percentile). On reading tests, he earns scores in the 70s. His team says that My child is nonverbal. Can his reading is the best we can expect. Is this true? be assessed? No. Learning to read is not primarily a Yes. Some tests of reading do not require the function of intelligence.7 Some children with child to speak. In Table 6-2, you will find a low IQs learn to decode text easily. Others list of tests and subtests that measure reading have great difficulty. The ease or difficulty of skills in children who are nonverbal. learning to decode text depends, for the most part, on phonological awareness. My daughter has a history of ear If your child has an intellectual disability, infections and language delays. She a comprehensive reading assessment can is struggling to learn the alphabet. identify his strengths, weaknesses, and what Should I have her tested? he needs in an effective reading instructional Yes. Language delays, ear infections, and program. His progress may be slow. He may difficulty learning the alphabet are factors need more direct, explicit instruction in that put your child at risk for reading vocabulary, verbal reasoning, and inferential problems. You need to begin screening and thinking to understand what he reads. monitoring her reading skills when she is in kindergarten. Assessing Reading: Special Your child may benefit from an evaluation Factors by an Audiologist to check for a Central My child has autism. What do we need Auditory Processing Disorder. to know about evaluating his reading? Progress monitoring tools, including As you know, children with autism have a AIMSweb and DIBELS-N are used to monitor broad range of skills. Some children with the development of reading skills. If reading autism have severe communication deficits. problems are identified early, your child’s Others struggle with social skills and teachers can make sure that she achieves and pragmatics. maintains grade-level reading skills. If your child is verbal, he should have the same skills tested as a typical child. If he has difficulty decoding, this is usually due to weaknesses in

10 Chapter 6. Reading Assessments

Table 6-2. Tests That Measure Reading Skills in Nonverbal Children

Test Subtest Skill

Lindamood Auditory Conceptualization Test, Phonemic Awareness Third Edition (LAC-3)

Test of Reading Comprehension, Relational Reading Vocabulary Fourth Edition (TORC-4) Vocabulary

DAR-2 Silent Diagnostic Assessment of Reading, Reading Reading Comprehension Second Edition (DAR-2) Comprehension (grades 3+)

Gray Silent Reading Tests (GSRT) Reading Comprehension

Sentence Completion, Sentence Comprehension Test of Reading Comprehension, Paragraph Sentence Comprehension & Fourth Edition (TORC-4) Construction, Sequencing Text Reading Comprehension Comprehension

Contextual Test of Reading Comprehension, Fluency Fourth Edition (TORC-4)

Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency, Second Edition (TOSCRF-2) Reading Fluency Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and These tests measure fluency; Comprehension (TOSREC) they do not measure accuracy. Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency, Second Edition (TOSWRF-2) Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement Reading Fluency (WJ III) Any test of spelling will provide information Spelling/Orthography about a child’s skill with phonics. Knowledge of letters, Test of Orthographic Competence (TOC) abbreviations, punctuation, and spelling

11 All About Tests and Assessments

Resources independently by the end of third grade. If she does not learn to read by the end of third Early Warning! Why Reading by grade, she can learn to read later, but it will the End of Third Grade Matters. require more work. Retrieved from www.ccf. ny.gov/KidsCount/kcResources/ If your child struggles with reading, get a AECFReporReadingGrade3.pdf comprehensive assessment to identify the Dyslexia Basics Fact Sheet. Retrieved causes of her difficulties and research-based from www.interdys.org/ewebeditpro5/ approaches to remediation now. upload/DyslexiaBasicsREVMay2012.pdf In this chapter, you learned about tests Is My Child Dyslexic? Common and assessments that identify reasons why characteristics of dyslexia and related children struggle with reading. Writing goes learning disorders. Retrieved from hand in hand with reading. www.interdys.org/ewebeditpro5/ upload/IsMyChildDyslexic.pdf In the next chapter, you will learn about tests of written language. You will learn Understanding Your Dyslexia. Retrieved about assessments used to identify written from www.interdys.org/ewebeditpro5/ language problems, including spelling and upload/UnderstandingYourDyslexia.pdf handwriting. Farrall, M. (2008) Reading Tests: What They Measure and Don’t Measure. Endnotes Retrieved from Wrightslaw at www. 1. Farrall, M. (2012). Reading assessment: Linking wrightslaw.com/info/test.read.farrall. language, literacy, and cognition. John Wiley htm & Sons: Hoboken, NJ The International Dyslexia Association: 2. 20 U.S.C. §1414(a)(1)(E) www.interdys.org 3. The International Dyslexia Association. (2002, November). What Is Dyslexia? Retrieved The Florida Center for Reading from: www.interdys.org/FAQWhatIs.htm Research:www.fcrr.org 4. 20 U.S.C. §1401(30), 34 C.F.R. §300.8(c)(10) University of Oregon DIBELS Data 5. Lyon, R. (1999). The NICHD research program System: https://dibels.uoregon.edu/ in reading development, reading disorders, and reading instruction. Retrieved from www. bartonreading.com/pages/keys99_nichd.cfm. html In Summation 6. Farrall, M. (2012) 7. National Institutes of Health. (2011, Reading is the most important skill taught November). NIH-funded study finds dyslexia in school and learned by children. Your goal not tied to IQ. Retrieved from www.nih.gov/ is to ensure that your child learns to read news/health/nov2011/nichd-03.htm 12